First Death Sentence Handed Down In Belarus In 2017

32-year-old unnamed resident of Naroulia town was sentenced to death by the Gomel Regional Court on 17 March, the court’s spokesperson Olga Barsukova told the media.

This is the first death sentence passed in Belarus in 2017.

The court found the convict guilty of two murders, committed with special cruelty.

In addition, the court ruled out a compensation for moral damage of 50,000 Belarusian rubles (~$26,000) to the victim.

The verdict has not come into force and can be appealed, human rights defenders report.

The bodies of a 59-year-old woman and her 61-year-old brother were found on 5 March, 2016 in a private house in Naroulia. After a while, the police arrested the alleged murderer, who lived nearby. The man had previously been convicted of theft and murder.

As was reported by BelTA news agency, the convict pled partially guilty. According to the man, he did not intend to kill his neighbors, saying that he had been attacked by the victim after he entered the house.

Belarus remains the only country in Europe still applying death penalty. Last year 4 people were executed in Belarus. Two more convicts are expecting executions at the moment.